Paper-feeding device.



G. E. HARDMAN.

PAPER FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1909.

WITNESSES. v ;MVENTOR A izf A T/ 35 lf at mted Nov. 22, 1910.

UNITED STATES PATENT ornrcn.

GEORGE EDWARD HARDMAN, or ms'r HAM, Lennon, iiiietimn, ASSIGNOR TO cam;-

BONUM COMPANY LIMITED, OF BRITAIN AND IBELAND.

PAIER-FEEDING mivxn.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Application med some 26, 1909. Serial No. 529,975.

chines of the kind in which the sheets are,

fed forward one at ,a time by means of a transverse rod covered withpads or tubes of corrugated rubber the said rod-resting upon the pile ofsheets and being reciprocated backward and forward for each revolutionof the cylinder.

In mechanism for feeding single sheets to printing mechanism it has beenproposed to employ reciprocating wheels each provided with pawl andratchet mechanism whereby the wheels were able to roll freely over thesheets during the backward reciprocation, but were prevented fromturning during their forward reciprocation thus producing frictionbetween their peripheries and the uppermost sheet whereby the latter wasfed forward. Thispawl and ratchet mechanism j was, however, open tovar-ions objections,

and the object of the present invention is to provide an improved devicewhereby the rotation of the reciprocating feed-roller can be controlledin the manner described above.

According to this invent-ion a reciprocatr g rubber. covered feed-rolleror feed wheels suitably adjustable is 01' are provided with a frictionclutch or clutches which can run free during the backward reciprocationbut can bind during the forward reciprocation. Such clutch or clutchesmay be the ordinary free wheel ball or pawl wedging devices.

In a preferred construction a roller is mounted loosely upon an axlethat extends transversely across the machine above the pile of sheets,and that is secured at each end, for example, to links, forming parts ofany suitable mechanism for reciprocating the axle. At one end of theroller a ballclutch is provided, one member of which is secured to orforms a part of the roller, the other being secured to the stationaryaxle.

One of the parts of the clutch may consist of an inrier circular rolleror wheel, grooved on its periphery, and secured to. the roller; theother part may consis'tof an eccentrically bored she I, which is fittedover the grooved inner rolleron wheel, and is secured upon the axle. I Arace of varying widths is therefore formed between the inner clutchroller and the inner periphery of the eccentric shell; in this race aball is inserted, the size of said ball being rather smaller than thegreatest ,width of the race, but larger than The result 4 the smallest'w'i'dth of said race. is that when the roller is reciprocated backwardthe ball moves toward the wider portion of the race, while when theroller is reciprocated forward the ball is forced toward the narrowerportion of the race and consequently locks the roller from turning.

In the accompanying drawings is illustratedas an example one embodimentof the invention.

In these drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional LONDON, ENGLANDfi CORPORATIONOF GREAT elevation of one construction of feeding' mechanism accordingto this invention ap-- plied to a rotary duplicating machine, some partsof which are shown also, and Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of same.

A is the feeding roller, B the fixed axle, and A, B the clutch members,A consisting of a grooved roller secured to the feeding roller A and Bconsisting of an eccentrically hollowed shell secured to the axle B bymeans of a set-screw B.

In Fig. 1 the variation in the width of the race C is shown, a ball Cbeing shown therein. It will be seen that when the roller A is movedbackward (or to the left) the part B will not rotate and the part A willrotate counter-clockwise thus tending to force the ball G into the widerportion of the race C, but when the said roller is drawn forward, thatis to say in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 1), the part A will tendto rotate in the opposite direction clockwiseand since the part B isfixed, the

ball will be forced into the narrower portion of the race C thus wedgingbetween the parts Aand B and preventing the former, and consequently theroller A, from moving, so that it will friction-ally engage and drawforward the sheet of paper it is resting on. The part B is provided witha pin B to prevent the hall from affecting the rotation of the roller Aduring its backward recipropreferab cation. The roller A abuts at oneend anism the link a, is connected to the driving wheei (notshown) andoperates an arm b mounted upon one end of a shaft 6 which carries an arm0 at each end. These arms 0 are each connected by means of links at toslides d which are in turn connected to each The slides d end of theaxle B by links (1?. reciprocate upon guide rods (i The axle B may befixed in the end of one of the links (2 by means of a set screw d;

What I claim is A paper feeding device comprising a roller, elasticpaper contacting" bands carried by the same and adjustable thereon, anaxle on which said roller is rotatably mounted, a hollow casing securedto the axle at 30 one end of the roller, a wheelsecured to-the roller atthe same end and projecting into the casing said casing bein boredeccentrically and cooperating with the wheel to form a race of varyingwidth, a ball within the casing and adapted to be engaged 'between thecasing and the wheel so as to prevent the roller from rotatin in onedirection, a pin carried by the casing for rendering the ballinoperative when the roller is rotated in the opposite direction andmeans for reciprocating the carrying axle.

Intestimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing wltnesses.

GEORGE EDWARD HARDMAN.

. Witnesses:

W. BoRNHoFr, HUGH M. DUNSTAN.

